Afternoon Ride (open)

[Ken Maxwell]

Ken heard Angelline say something, but it was too difficult to make out (ahaha) with the speed that they were going. Shiro galloped right beside Shadow, although slightly behind. It seemed he lost this race, but he accepted that. She was a better rider afterall. The Lake was within arms reach now, Ken decided to go for broke. He kicked Shrio hard and leaned forward as far as he could without falling off. He knew he could pass her with just a little more time...

[Angelline Devorez]

Angelline turned her head to the side and saw that Ken and Shiro were right on their tails and closing in. Nodding her head in acknowledgement she turned back around to face the front. They were giving it their all, but the race was determined. It was a bit unfair, after all she had started first, but she'd apologize once they reached the lake. Breaking through the trees she reined in Shadow before he went a bit to far and turned to Ken her eyes burning with laughter. "That was a pleasant race. I'm sure you'll win next time," she said as she swung out of the saddle to land on her feet.

Shadow's sides heaved from exhaustion. Noticing this she unlaced the saddle from his back and threw it to the ground. "Well done Shadow go drink some water," she whispered to her beloved stallion. The horse let out a stream of air from his flaring nostrils and trotted over to the side of the Lake to get a well earned drink.

[Ace McCloud]

Ace arrived at Angelline’s house a hour later after leaving school, as he had business to take care of. He got off his motorcycle, parking it to the side of the gate that was in front of her house, and walked around to the side. He saw the ranch, and made his way over there. As he reached the ranch, he looked around and saw no one. Where is she? She wasn’t at school. She has to be here, he thought, as he walked around, looking at the horses. He saw a few that he liked, but he doubted that anyone of them were Shadow, the one Angelline had mentioned before. Looking around some more, he spotted a empty chair near the door, and decided to wait for her. Sitting down, he relaxed and closed his eyes, thinking of what to say to her when he finally meets her.

[Ken Maxwell]

"It was a nice race, wasn't it?" Ken responded. He hopped off Shiro, and staggered a bit now that he was on solid groud. Taking off the saddle, he led Shiro to the lake, and sat down, looking back at Angelline. "Care for a sit down, I'm kinda tired too after that race." Ken patted the floor and hoped Angelline would sit down, so they could talk.

[Angelline Devorez]

Angelline looked over the two horses and shook her head at Ken's offer. "I'd love to sit and chat, but I need to take care of the horses first. I'll be right back just let me pick up a few of their grooming combs." With that said she raced away from the Lake heading back to the stable to pick up the currying combs. Humming to herself as she walked into the stables, beads of sweat rolling down the side of her face, she looked on the racks for it when she saw someone sitting in a chair near the door. Turning to face the person a smile on her face it widened as she saw who it was.

"Ace! What are you doing here?" she asked making her way over to him. She was happy to see him, but she was really curious. Angelline had been feeling a bit sick this morning so her mom let her stay home, but she had insisted on going outside. I'm glad I did insist, she thought.

[Ace McCloud]

Ace was startled out of his sleep as he heard the voice he had been waiting for. Standing up, and brushing himself off, he walked over to Angelline. He hugged her as he got closer to her, “Angelline, I’m sorry.” He said, as he pulled her even closer. He really was sorry, and he couldn’t express himself enough. “Mon amor, if that’s correct, I think you might want to take a seat before I elaborate.” Smiling, even though he was sure Angel couldn’t see it, he added, “My lap’s perfectly fine, but if you want the chair, I suppose I can allow that.”

[Angelline Devorez]

Angelline was a bit startled at his words. Forgetting her quest for the grooming combs she took his former seat and sat down. Rolling her eyes at his words she pointed a finger at him. "Flattery can lead only to ill intentions. That's what I told Ken and I'm going to tell that to you too Ace. As for your offer I'll pass," she said with a small smile. Leaning back in the chair she waited for Ace to tell her his story.

[Ace McCloud]

As she rolled her eyes, Ace couldn’t help but feel guilt, as well as sadness, in his heart. Does she know? Impossible! There was no way she could have known. Then, she spoke. “Ken?!” Ace blurted out. Who was Ken?! Guilt and sadness were then wiped away by jealousy, as Ace started to burn up inside. He calmed himself down only by knowing that what he did to her was wrong, and this was his punishment, and he had to deal with it.

Seating himself on the floor next to the chair, he began to speak. “Angel, I’m really sorry.” He said, hoping that he could have avoided this somehow. “But today..” He spoke, recapping her on all that had happened. “…And that’s what happened. But before you say anything, I wanted you to have this.” He said, pulling out a red box from his pocket that obviously contained jewelry. It was a golden bracelet, with Angel engraved on it. That was the reason it took him a hour to get to her ranch, he had went to the neighboring town, which was far bigger than this one, and bought it for her. It had taken a good amount of money, but it was nothing Ace was worried about.

He held out the box for Angel to take it.

[Ken Maxwell]

Ken took off his shoes and socks and sat with his feet in the lake. The water was cool. It was nice. He sat in between Shadow and Shiro, and was petting them both, congradulating them both on the race. Then an idea got into his head. Nothing impresses the ladies more then a man working out, and with that, Ken was up and shirtless. He climbed up a tree and started doing chin-ups. She'll be all over me when she sees this, Ken laughed to himself.

[Angelline Devorez]

Angelline jumped a bit at Ace's startled shout and laughed. "Don't worry Ace. Ken is a boy who wandered onto the property. I gave him Shiro so he could ride and not be bored. Don't worry we're only friends. You're the only one I could possibly love," she whispered a slight blush staining her cheeks.

Her blush faded away though and instead became a deathly pale color as his story progressed. She leaned her head down so he wouldn't see her face as she silently began to shake. she tried to calm down and stay reasonable. He had said sorry, but it still stung. The fact that he had done that with another girl. She wondered what was wrong with him. Angelline had stayed faithful in the face of other come ons from guys who were now her friends, and yet just one girl and he had fallen. I can't blame him though. He's a flirt. That's what flirts do, she thought, but a tear still fell from her eyes at the sting of pain his confession caused.

Raising her head she took the box from him and looked at it's contents. The bracelet was very beautiful, but still she wanted to know for sure. Closing the lid she put the box in her lap and stared at Ace, hurt and anger clearly written on her face. "Ace...does that girl mean anything to you?" she asked, a bit of fear swirling inside her if he actually said yes.

[Ace McCloud]

Ace calmed down a bit as he heard Angel’s answer, but jealously still lurked around in his heart. He didn’t care too much of who Ken was, but what Ken’s intentions were. Ace made it a personal goal to go and talk with this Ken when he was finished, and see why he was on her property. “I love you too, Angel.” he said, hoping she would repeat those words at the end.

“No, she doesn’t. I thought she did, but that was only because of you know, what had happened in our dreams, the Alexis and Glandforth thing. It just….made it feel like a betrayal of some sort to me for some reason, the things that happened. I needed to get my mind off of it, and I just don’t know how I began to kiss her. I truly am sorry Angel, and I wouldn’t be mad at you if you slapped me. I believe you do.” he smiled, but only faintly. It wasn’t a smile of joy, but rather, a sad smile, and hopefully she knew that. Of course she did, they did go through a lot together.

[Ken Maxwell]

Ken got bored of chin-ups rather quickly. He'd only done 5 before he was tired. Letting go and dropping down, he realized how bored he was. I think I should go put the horses back... she's taking so long with this comb... maybe something happened? Ken thought to himself. He walked over to Shadow, and lightly rubbed him. He threw on a saddle, and mounted Shadow, grabbing Shiro's reins, and lightly trotted back towards the fields. He left his shirt.
Girls love the glistening body...

[Angelline Devorez]

"So because you felt betrayed you ended up kissing another girl?!" Angelline screamed in anger as she stood up. It was rare to see her angry, irritated yes, but never angry, but this situation made her very angry. Closing her eyes she held a hand over them to calm herself down, but it was incredibly difficult. "I-I don't know what to say Ace. All I know is you’ve broken my trust. How much do you think I can take?!" she asked in a broken voice. She hated being this dramatic, she hated how angry she was at that moment.

Turning her back on him she took deep steadying breaths. It was at that moment when she heard the pounding of hooves. Groaning she turned to face the entrance to the stable. Just when I thought this was turning out to be a wonderful day this has to happen, she thought with a small glare at the wooden framework.

[Ace McCloud]

“I-,” Ace realized that words weren’t going to help him much in this situation, seeing as how he was in the wrong. He was about to walk over to her, when he heard the sound of hooves. He knew it must have been Ken, but he didn’t care, not now at least. Angel had turned around, which was better for Ace. He put a arm around her waist, and spoke, “Angel…please, I’m sorry. I truly am.” He paused, taking a breath, “I love you.” He allowed his voice to become one with the wind, just to emphasize. He tilted his head slightly, preparing to kiss her. If he kissed her, maybe she would know the true extent of his feelings. Who said kissing was bad?

[Ken Maxwell]

Ken heard lots of muffled sounds, but heard one things clear... "Kissing other girls!" It was Angelline. I think I like the sounds of this.. Ken thought with a smile, but highly doubted it was what he thought. The field was now in view, and looking up at a porch there was Angelline and a boy. A muscular boy...but luckily he was wearing a shirt, so that put Ken a little higher. He could see that Angelline was stressed, and this boy was wrapped around her. He tried to sneak the horses into the stable without being notice... but he knew he'd already failed.

"Should I leave?"